Spring mattress or bed-bottom



(No Model.)

W. BULKELEY.

SPRING MATTRESS 0R BED BOTTOM.

No 262,365. Patented Aug. 8, 1882.

W K M rrnn STATES ATEN'I Farce,

.WORTHINGTON BULKELEY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

SPRING MATTRESS OR BED-BOTTOM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 262,365, dated August8, 1882.

Application filed February 6, 1882.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WonrnING'roN BULKE- LEY,a resident of Cleveland, county of Guyahoga, and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Spring Mattresses orBed-Bottoms; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description thereof, reference being bad to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,making a part of this specification.

My invention relates to mattresses or bedbottoms constructed with asupporting-frame and spiral springs.

It has for its object the production of a bedbottom whigh may be readilyfolded up for transportation and as readily adapted to beds of differentwidths.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of my improvedfolding spring bed-bottom; Fig. 2, an end view of the same opened out;Figs. 3 and 4, side and end views of the same when folded up; Fig. 5, adetached view, illustrating a modification in the hinged joint.

The foundation of this spring bed-bottom consists of a series ofparallel slats, A A, connected by means of transverse strips B B B BThese transverse connecting-strips may be either rigidly secured to theslats, as shown at B B, or, in order to adapt it for use upon beds ofdifferent widths and for greater convenience in transportation, may behinged to one of the slats and made to extend diagonally over the othersand be connected thereto by a slotted sliding joint, as shown at B B Incombination with these diagonal jointed connecting-strips B Bbrace-plates B B are employed to prevent a longitudinal movement of theslats in opening and closing. These brace-plates are secured to the slatto project at a right angle thereto over the next slat, to which it isconnected by means of a slotted sliding joint, a pin, it, on the slatbeing made to project through a slot in the brace-plate B as shown inFig. l. The two middle slats, A A, of the bed-bottom are connected byhinged joints formed by two or more pairs of bent bars, W WV, properlysecured thereto, whose ends, projecting from the slats at a right anglethereto, are each bent up at an angle to (No model.)

the plane of the slat, as shown in the drawings, and are at the sametime twisted so as to bring the face of the projecting end of each in aplane at right angles to that of the,slat. These ends are either hingeddirectlytogether, as seen in Fig. 5, or otherwise, and preferably areconnected by anintermediate pivoted link, 0, as clearly shown in Figs. 2and 4 of the drawings. One or more stay-bars, D, pivoted to one of themiddle slats, extend across to the other. Each stay-bar is provided withan eye upon its outer free end to fit over a stud, (1, upon the oppositeslat. (See Fig. 1 of the drawings.) These stay-bars, when thus extendedfrom the one slat to the other and secured by the stud, as described,prevent the bed-bottom from folding up or giving at its joint. When itis desired to fold the bed the stay-bars are disengaged from the studand swung back upon the slat, as shown by the dotted lines, Fig. 1.

The bed-bottom thus constructed of a series of slats adapted to befolded and doubled over by means of central hinges, NV W, is completedby securing upon said slats a series of conical wire springs, G G,arranged either in regular or alternate order upon the slats to whichthey are secured, and these springs maybe coupled together by means ofcoiled wires connecting their upper ends, which serve to secure themproperly and yet allow them free play, and at the same time permit thebed-bottom to be readily folded, or they may be otherwise coupledbytlexible links or chains of webbin WVhere the slotted bottomis madeadjustable,as shown onthe right in Fig. 1, one or more of the pinsprojecting through the slots in the diagonal strips may be threaded andprovided with thumb-nuts, whereby the strips may be locked and thebed-slats fixed at any point of adjustment.

I am aware that bed-bottoms have been heretoforeconstructed with jointedor hinged foundation-pieces; but

I Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In ajointed folding bed-bottom upon the slats of which are securedspiral springs, the

combination, with the springs and slats, of the hinge-barsWW, secured tothe slats and bent upwardly toward the top level of the springs,

link, (3, pivoted at each end to the end of the liinge-bars,substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name 15 to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

W'ORTHINGTON BULKELEY.

Witnesses J OHN T. MORTON, L. H. WARE.

